Cost of living comparison

Somalia

compared to

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka vs. Somalia Cost of Living Summary

Sri Lanka is 9.5% more expensive than Somalia overall.

Restaurants: pay 20.4% less in Sri Lanka
Groceries: pay 15.9% less in Sri Lanka
Transportation: pay 12.6% more in Sri Lanka
Housing: pay 36.4% more in Sri Lanka
Childcare: pay 13.3% less in Sri Lanka
Entertainment and Sports: pay 6.6% less in Sri Lanka
Clothing: pay 63.0% more in Sri Lanka

The cost of clothing, housing, and transportation in Sri Lanka are more expensive than in Somalia. Expenses including restaurants, groceries, childcare, and entertainment and sports are lower in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka vs. Somalia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sri Lanka instead of Somalia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 20.4% less for restaurants

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.33 SOS1,908	$2.19 LKR726.11	-34.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.00 SOS2,862	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	+23.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.04 SOS595	$0.82 LKR270.87	-21.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 SOS437	$0.31 LKR101.62	-59.8%
Average			-20.4%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of restaurants

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pay 15.9% less for groceries

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Bread 1 loaf	$1.35 SOS775	$0.50 LKR164.88	-63.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.50 SOS1,431	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	+104.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.02 SOS4,020	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	-28.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.18 SOS1,250	$1.59 LKR525.48	-27.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.02 SOS1,157	$1.92 LKR637.54	-4.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 SOS671	$2.39 LKR790.19	+103.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 SOS476	$0.33 LKR110.92	-59.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 SOS649	$1.65 LKR546.03	+45.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 SOS335	$0.59 LKR195.36	+0.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SOS357	$0.45 LKR150.14	-27.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SOS422	$0.34 LKR113.13	-53.7%
Average			-15.9%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.6% more for transportation

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.57 SOS2,041	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	+34.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$12.17 SOS6,968	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	-59.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$10,000.00 SOS6M	$29,619.96 LKR10M	+196.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.78 SOS3,882	$2.96 LKR979.01	-56.4%
Average			+12.6%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of transportation

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pay 36.4% more for housing

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.56 SOS22,639	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	-58.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$143.33 SOS82,036	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	+75.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$77.50 SOS44,357	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	+85.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$78.38 SOS44,862	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	-54.4%
Average			+36.4%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of housing

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pay 13.3% less for childcare

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$51.67 SOS29,571	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	-45.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$515.00 SOS295K	$711.79 LKR236K	+38.2%
Average			-13.3%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of childcare

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pay 6.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	??	$2.16 LKR714.17
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.67 SOS954	$2.16 LKR713.82	+29.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.00 SOS572	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	+891.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.58 SOS19,794	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	-72.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$3.64 LKR1,206.25
Average			-6.6%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 63.0% more for clothing

	Somalia	Sri Lanka
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$12.50 SOS7,154	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	+74.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.33 SOS9,348	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	-19.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$18.50 SOS10,588	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	+287.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.83 SOS14,786	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	+30.1%
Average			+63.0%

Somalia vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Somalia vs. Sri Lanka

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Sri Lanka?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 7.6 times more money in Sri Lanka

Size Comparison · See true size

Somalia is about 10 times bigger than Sri Lanka.

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Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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